DISCLAIMER: Polaris, Malice, the X-Men and all related characters belong
to Marvel Comics, and are used here for non-profit entertainment.

NOTES: Out of a small batch of scriblings entitled "Nightmares" in which
the bad-taco meat-inspired dreams of the X-Men were detailed, this one alone
survived. >:) For (and thanks to) Bobo, who got me into Polarisdom (and
is a darned witty guy).


A NIGHTMARE
Lauren "BelaLeBeau" Fox

She was laughing at her, pulling at her, forcing her to climb out of bed
and walk out the door. She guided her footsteps down the hallway, and when
Lorna tried to shout, she forced her mouth into a twisted grin.

"You'll have to try harder than that," Malice whispered.

"B-b-but you're supposed to be d-d-dead...!" Lorna stuttered, as a
shiver of panic ran down her spine.

"You thought you could leave me, you thought you were free. But you
can't, and you aren't. We're inseparable. I'm back, and now I'm going to have a
little fun."

And then, with a jolt, she pushed Lorna into the air, toying with
Polaris' powers like a skillful puppetmaster. They flew like that- Malice pushing
and forcing with all the ease of a grown man wrestling with an infant, her
host screaming inwardly that no, it wasn't happening... she would do
something to stop this. She COULD do something to stop this.

But the harder Lorna tried to regain control, the more she lost it. It
slipped away- nearly her whole consciousness slipped away- as the intruder
cackled like a fairy tale witch, mental claws digging into her victim's mind and
cutting through Polaris' quickly weakening hope for escape.

"Who's first, Lorna?" She asked. "Jamie? Shall we get rid of Jamie
first? Or maybe Guido... you always liked him."

"Get out of me!"

"I know! Bobby! First to love, first to kill. It's perfect."

"GET OUT--"

Their race down the hallway ended abruptly at a door, and Malice swung
out Lorna's hand to open it. "Are you ready, Lorna? You'll have to take a
nice long shower afterwards, I think. You'll be covered with blood. Remember
all those flatscans in the alley that one time, Lorna? We'll do it like
that. Or maybe worse."

They walked in.

Robert was listening to his records, bobbing his head from side to side,
completely unaware of his visitors until they'd grabbed him by the heck
and, with a little magnetic help, held him in the air.

"Hey hey hey!" he yelled.

"Iceman," Malice said to him, with a vicious grin. "Always the hero,
always the loser."

Her grip tightened to choke off any retort he might have had. As a
sheath of ice grew around her hands, she began spitting out any cutting comment
Lorna knew would hurt him: "Can't get out, huh, X-Man? You're a weakling, a
useless weakling..."

"No! Stop!" Lorna barked at her. "Bobby!"

Drake wasn't struggling. He seemed to have given up.

Malice threw him against the wall hard enough to break his spine, and
watched idly as he slid down to the floor. "THAT certainly wasn't worth much.
Can't see how you ever could have loved someone that... that..." She turned.

"Stop right there, Polaris!"

"Havoc... Alex," Malice grinned. "Second love, second dead." He stood
straight as a toy soldier, looking just as hurt as he was serious. Her smile took
him by surprise, and for a moment, he didn't do anything. Then Malice made
Lorna pounce on him.

*Nonononononononono...*

He held out his arms and blasted away at her, but the magnetic shield
she created around her host deflected all of it. And then she pounced,
knocking him down and tearing at his flesh.

"Oooooh, Lorna, look how he squirms!"

Lorna didn't respond. She was too busy trying to oust the succubus from
her mind.

"Lookie here, Lorna, look at his guts! Aren't they a pretty shade of
pink?"

"Lorna, stop..." he cried. "Stop, stop... please stop.."

*It's not me!* she tried to tell him, but Malice wouldn't let her.
Wouldn't let her tell him that she would stop it if she could; wouldn't let her
assure him that she wouldn't hurt him for the world.

"Lorna? Why?!"

"Because," Malice told him, "It's fun!"

And she made Lorna watch as she grabbed a spare piece of metal and swung
it through his neck.

"Noooooo..."

"Lorna!" Malice said, excited as a school girl. "Who should be next?
Forge? Maybe Shard? Betsy? Oh, Lorna, the possibilities are endless!"

Polaris tried, one last time, to gain the upper hand, to regain control
of her body. All she could manage was to make a thumb wag.

Malice laughed. "Guido!" She said. "Guido's next. Let's squash him under
something- a bridge! A building! A--"




****
Dream is not a revelation. If a dream affords the dreamer some light on
himself, it is not the person with closed eyes who makes the discovery
but the person with open eyes lucid enough to fit thoughts together. Dream- a
scintillating mirage surrounded by shadows- is essentially poetry.
-Michel Leiris
Nights as Day, Days as Nights

He who is awake will no longer be afraid of nightmares.
-Buddha, His Life and Teachings
****